The invention relates to an arrangement for winding a cable or the like on and off a reel with a centre hole, which arrangement comprises two movable, substantially vertical support arms, which are supported by a frame structure and the free arm ends of which are provided with spindles arranged to be inserted to the centre holes of the reel between the support arms, when the support arms are moved towards one another, whereby the reel can be raised from the foundation by means of vertical adjustment to enable the winding.
Such arrangements are well known from situations in which various flexible elongated products are handled. The above arrangements have especially been used in cable manufacture, and the solutions disclosed in the German Patent 27 13 866 (the Finnish Publication 60542) and the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,123,602 and 5,242,127 can be cited as examples thereof.
It is difficult to position the reel into the winder in practice, because guiding of the spindles into the centre hole of the reel is not easy. To solve this problem, a variety of solutions has been developed, and they have been described in the above-mentioned publications, for example.
A disadvantage of the above prior art solutions is, however, their complex structure, whereby the manufacturing costs are high. A complex structure also makes great demands on installation and adjustments, and implementation and operating costs rise relatively high. Due to the complexity, a further disadvantage is that devices do not have the best possible reliability, and there is a big risk of malfunctions partly because the solutions are relatively sensitive with respect to adjustments, as mentioned above.
It is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement to eliminate the prior art disadvantages. This is achieved by the arrangement of the invention. The arrangement of the invention is characterized in that the spinles are arranged floatably to the ends of the support arms making the spindles move freely in different directions, and that as a result of the support arms moving towards one another and resting against the centre hole of the reel, the spindles are arranged to move axially with respect to the support arms into a position in which the spindles are locked to the support arms.
A particular advantage of the invention is its simplicity, whereby the implementation and operating costs of the invention are kept low. Another advantage is the reliability of the arrangement. Further, a substantial advantage is that the arrangement of the invention can be implemented largely by using the same parts as in normal fixed spindles. The invention provides also the advantage that the arrangement of the invention can be applied to various winders and it can further be applied to already existing winders without having to make big structural changes.